The Resource Center shares the results of our continuous evaluation, research, and development as part of our ongoing commitment to furthering the ACG® System.
Licensed ACG System users, please log in to access files, manuals and other exclusive materials.
Guests, with a free registration you can access a wealth of information regarding the ACG System including numerous published articles, conference presentations, case studies, videos, and more. You can also share your feedback and challenges, and receive special invites to exclusive webinars and other events.
The Johns Hopkins ACG System Bibliography provides links to more than 900 papers and reports from across the globe detailing various studies utilizing the ACG System in a variety of locations, populations, and innovative applications.
Click below to view the full list of publications or search for papers or reports from a specific country, author, or topic of interest.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS UTILIZING THE ACG SYSTEM: Chris Forrest, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Management, University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and ACG System co-developer discusses how the ACG System stemmed from research, the hundreds of papers and reports from across the globe detailing studies utilizing the ACG System in a variety of locations, populations, and innovative applications, the ACG System Bibliography word cloud, and how this information is being used. He further describes in detail 3 of these studies, and future research directions.
The documents below are available only to licensed ACG System users. If you have an ACG System license please log in/register (indicating Licensed User status) or if you need help please email info@HopkinsACG.org. If you do not have an ACG System license click here to find out how to obtain one.
Version 12.1
Release Notes
System Documentation
Version 12.0
Pre-Release Announcement
Release Notes
System Documentation (all guides)
Version 11.2
Installation and Usage Guide
Technical Reference Guide
Applications Guide
The ACG System is characterized by excellence in both research and practice. We often gather ACG System users, Johns Hopkins faculty, and other population health experts from around the world to discuss our positive impact in various populations, innovative applications, upcoming developments, and more.
This prestigious award was established in honor of Dr. Barbara Starfield, Johns Hopkins University distinguished Professor and co-developer of the Johns Hopkins ACG® System. The Starfield Award acknowledges her legacy by recognizing the best use of the ACG System in three areas:
After you have carefully reviewed the documentation supplied with the latest software release, we welcome your inquiries on any topic of relevance to your use of the ACG System within your organization.
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The following lists the regions included in the Bibliography, and the number of articles about each (as of mid-2015):
Australia (2)
Bangladesh (1)
Belgium (1)
Brazil (1)
Canada (253)
Chile (3)
Colombia (1)
Czech Republic (1)
Denmark (7)
England & Wales (1)
Europe (1)
France (2)
Germany (3)
Ireland (2)
Israel (11)
Italy (1)
Latvia (1)
Lithuania (2)
Malaysia (3)
Netherlands (2)
New Zealand (5)
Norway (3)
Russia (2)
South Africa (4)
South Korea (1)
Spain (93)
Sweden (37)
Switzerland (1)
Taiwan (23)
Thailand (3)
United Kingdom (31)
United States (430)
Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., dedicated her career to defining primary care and promulgating its pivotal importance to health services worldwide. One of her profound insights was that systems of care organized around individual diseases were not optimally beneficial to patients, especially those who are chronically ill.
Research by Prof. Starfield and her colleagues in the early 1980s showed that children using the most health care resources were not those affected by single chronic illnesses, but rather they had multiple, seemingly unrelated conditions. Prof. Starfield was able to extend these findings to all ages of patients and ultimately demonstrate that the clustering of morbidity is a better predictor of health services resource use than the presence of specific diseases.
Focusing on the patterns of morbidity forms the basis of the current ACG System and remains the fundamental concept that differentiates the ACG System from other case-mix adjustment methodologies. Although Prof. Starfield passed away in 2011, her worldwide public health legacy lives on.
Lizelle Steenkamp and Sharon Naidoo received this award on behalf of Discovery Limited in South Africa in recognition of their use of the Johns Hopkins ACG System in their project entitled “Improving Patient Coordination Through Effective Primary Care Management”. Their work was presented at the 2016 ACG System International Conference in San Diego.
Discovery Limited used the Johns Hopkins ACG System to investigate the impact of care coordination on health care costs and patient health outcomes. By modifying the ACG System coordination risk score to better suit the South African population and patterns of care, Discovery Limited was able to measure the impact of primary care provider allocation. Results demonstrated that assigning a primary care doctor to a patient for care coordination improved care coordination as measured by decreased number of specialist visits and decreased number of hospital admissions and readmissions. Improvements were also seen in process measures recorded within diabetes and healthy heart management.
“We are immensely honored to receive this award in recognition of a project using the ACG System to measure the impact of primary care provider allocation,” said Dr. Jonathan Broomberg, CEO of Discovery Health. “For Discovery it is critical that we continue to maximize value for patients. Projects such as these make excellent use of tools such as the ACG System and support our efforts to move towards a patient-centered health care system, which aims to achieve the best patient outcomes at the lowest possible cost,” Broomberg continued.
Discovery Limited’s study also showed that the specialty of the doctor providing the majority of care is not as important as previously thought. Instead, the strength of the relationship between the patient and the provider has a greater influence on successful care coordination. Patients with strong relationships with their primary care providers had better utilization experiences than those with weak relationships. This is independent of insurance benefit design as patients with strong relationships with general practitioners on both unrestricted and restricted plans experienced lower levels of hospital utilization. They also experienced lower care coordination issues.
“Results from this project demonstrated that coordinated care, by assigning a primary care doctor to a patient, lowered overall health care costs and improved patient outcomes,” confirmed Broomberg. Commenting on their work in coordinated care, he said, “Discovery Health places great emphasis on coordination of patient care and the subsequent evidence of improved care and costs. Measured by a decreased number of specialist visits and hospital admissions and readmissions, this project also showed that our patient-care strategy using the Discovery Health Premier Practice model is effective,” he added.
The findings support the Discovery Premier Practice model that was introduced in 2015 and provides an approach that encourages care coordination within the health care system namely the Discovery Premier Network. This network consists of general practitioners who agree to follow evidence based pathways for the management of patients with the following conditions: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia or coronary artery disease. Enrolled doctors are incentivized to manage their patients’ care. The Premier Network is unique in that it is coupled with Discovery’s wellness program, Vitality. Vitality members are incentivized to reach particular health goals.
“Given Professor Starfield’s conviction of the importance of coordinated care as well as her input during the creation of the ACG System Coordination Markers, it is truly fitting that the work of this year’s Starfield Award winner focusses on these aspects,” said Karen Kinder PhD, MBA; Executive Director, ACG System
To access a summary presentation highlighting their award-winning work, click here.
The Starfield Award honors the work and legacy of Dr. Barbara Starfield, co-developer of the Johns Hopkins ACG System. We are honored to receive numerous applications from leaders in health care research from across the globe. The award recognizes work focusing on three major aspects of Barbara Starfield’s work; addressing multi-morbidity in patients and populations, reducing disparities in the delivery of primary health care, and improving population health. The ACG System Team is grateful to DST for sponsoring this award. It is awarded biennially and presented at the ACG International User Conference.
Lourens Walters, Cristina Mannie, and Stefan Strydom of Medscheme in South Africa received the 2014 Starfield Award in recognition of their use of the ACG System in their project titled: “A comprehensive care management programme focused on emerging and high risk individuals”.
They presented their work at the 2014 ACG System International Conference in Seattle, WA.
The aim of Medscheme’s research was to identify individuals within lower morbidity groups who were most likely to incur increasing health care costs in the future but are still amenable to care management intervention programs. What differentiated their approach from other methods of identifying patients for care management programs was their recognition that when tracking costs over future time periods for individuals in the lower Resource Utilization Bands (RUBs), the average health care expenditure for these individuals increases dramatically even though their current costs are relatively lower than those associated with higher RUBs.
A predictive model utilizing the ACG System was developed to predict the likelihood of moving to a higher RUB in the future. This new Emerging Risk Model complements their existing care management approach of focusing on high risk individuals.
By intervening on high risk individuals identified by applying their existing High Risk Predictive Model which also utilizes the ACG System, their randomized controlled study observed financial savings and a reduction in utilization of hospital services. Individuals identified by the Emerging Risk Model are likely to benefit from similar interventions due to a similar disease profile. A randomized controlled study is planned to measure intervention outcomes.
The Starfield Award honors the work and legacy of Dr. Barbara Starfield, co-developer of the Johns Hopkins ACG System. This year we were honored to receive numerous applications from leaders in health care research from across the globe. The award recognizes work focusing on three major aspects of Barbara Starfield’s work; addressing multi-morbidity in patients and populations, reducing disparities in the delivery of primary health care, and improving population health. The ACG System Team is grateful to DST for sponsoring this award. It is awarded biennially and presented at the ACG International User Conference.
Further information is available via your local ACG System representative, or from Chad Abrams for applicants from North America or Alan Thompson for applicants outside of North America.
The Starfield Award is given biennially at the ACG System International Conferences.
Dr. Starfield and her contributions continue to be discussed by public health professionals around the globe. As a sponsor, you keep her body of work vibrant –and help the next generation of students to make exciting advances.
Any individual or organization who wishes to honor Prof. Starfield’s work through sponsorship of the Starfield Award and the Barbara Starfield Scholarship Fund will be recognized in a variety of ways. These include highlighted mention in collateral materials, on websites, and in media. Additionally, priority preference for conferences will be offered.
For further Information on the Starfield Award and Sponsorship: please e-mail the ACG System Team at: info@HopkinsACG.org.
NHS East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (formerly the Slough Clinical Commissioning Group), located in Great Britain, won this year’s Starfield Award for their project entitled “Population Profiling to Support a New Model of Clinical Delivery.” The award was announced at the Johns Hopkins ACG System’s 2018 International Conference, held in San Antonio, Texas.
The Johns Hopkins ACG System analyzes health care data, the results of which improve accuracy and fairness in evaluating provider performance, identifies patients at high risk, forecasts health care utilization and sets equitable payment rates. It has been used in commercial, government and research settings worldwide, longer and more extensively than any other health care data analytics system, impacting close to 200 million lives in 30 countries.
The NHS East Berkshire project used the ACG System to identify people at risk of hospital admission and then provide them with a care and support plan. Their impressive analytical work resulted in the creation of a new type of care program that is delivered within a primary care setting.
The Starfield Award, established in honor of Barbara Starfield, M.D., a Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Professor and co-developer of the Johns Hopkins ACG System, honors her legacy by recognizing the best use of the ACG System in three key areas of her work: addressing multi-morbidity in individual patients and populations; reducing disparities in the delivery of primary health care; and improving population health.
“We are honored to receive this award named for one of the true pioneers in population health analytics, and we are delighted to see the work of the CCG being recognized internationally,” said Dr. Jim O’Donnell, NHS clinical lead for the Slough locality. “We have worked hard to plan for the health needs of the population we serve using evidence about the way patients have historically used services.”
“The ACG system has allowed us to support patients more proactively,” said Sangeeta Saran, East Berkshire CCG’s associate director of planned care. “This award demonstrates what we can achieve by working together.”
“We congratulate the team for successfully converting ACG System data output into actionable information and then using it to inform their population health management approach,” said Kumar Subramaniam, executive director of population health analytics at Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions.
The Starfield Award honors the work and legacy of Dr. Barbara Starfield, co-developer of the Johns Hopkins ACG System. We are honored to receive numerous applications from leaders in health care research from across the globe. The award recognizes work focusing on three major aspects of Barbara Starfield’s work; addressing multi-morbidity in patients and populations, reducing disparities in the delivery of primary health care, and improving population health. The ACG System Team is grateful to DST for sponsoring this award. It is awarded biennially and presented at the ACG International User Conference.
UK CCG scoops top international award.
Access the Insights (HIMSS Europe) article PDF here.
CCG praised for use of population health management software.
Access the Digital Health article PDF here.